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/lit/ - Literature

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3139938 No.3139938 [Reply] [Original]

Why doesn't Asians have the problem of an existential crisis?

>> No.3139944

>>3139938

too busy not being a lazy fuck

>> No.3140004

Different mindset in Asia, no humanism. Never got out of the apathetic drone society mentality of early agriculturalists. Death and meaning aren't problematic for them, because nothing is problematic. Life is pointless and capricious.

>> No.3140016

Asians (and Indians, various Islamic peoples) have flourishing traditions of mysticism. Western Christianity never really did, hence "existential crises" and other bizarre philosophical consequences of our attitude of uncertainty concerning reality and existence.

>> No.3140022

Broadly, because they don't have the same sort of absolute moral standards about whose nonexistence to be upset

>> No.3140029

>>3140022
To elaborate, Nietzsche's critique of christianity is that it generally vindicated science/critical inquiry as being an instrument of scholasticism, and because of this constantly set itself in science's place as truth-giver. So when the two stopped being compatible there is a crisis

Most east asian religions have religion and value etc removed from "truth functions" in any meaningful sense so there can't be a contradiction there

>> No.3140032

>>3139938
>>3140004
you two are talking about the perfect prototype of asian religious (which does not exist, by the way),the perfect prototype of Western religious has no existential crises either.
> before trying to refute me stop for a moment to think.

>> No.3140035

They do. Whining and complaining is highly frowned upon in their culture though so they usually just get drunk and keep it to themselves.

>> No.3140209
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3140209

I heard most Asian languages don't have worlds equivalent to transcendent and transcendental and therefore do not allow the possibility of discussing problems such as transcendental consciousness, unconscious manifestations, etc. so most Asians just have different means of coping with their "acting out" and generally ignore the problem of individuality.

>> No.3140210

>>3140209
*words

I'm sure someone could interpret this as a freudian slip.

>> No.3140216

>>3140210
you already did

>> No.3140229
File: 48 KB, 563x637, that feel when you're a freud.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3140229

>>3140216
Are you implying that I already formulated an interpretation without posting it or that simply recognizing something as possibly being a freudian slip is enough to constitute an interpretation?

>> No.3140249

>>3139938
ITT Orientalism

>> No.3140252

>>3140249
In your post
>Rejectionism
>overtones of Nationalism
>Westernism

>> No.3140258

>>3140252
All better than pop orientalism, the disease of soccer moms and niggerplebs

>> No.3140260

>>3139938
What are you talking about? Most people in China do.

>> No.3140317

they have no souls

>> No.3140333
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3140333

>>3140317

>> No.3140340

They do. But they actually solved it and built a culture around this solution.

We, on the other hand, keep chasing ghosts trying to solve false problems.

>> No.3140345

>>3140340
>But they actually solved it and built a culture around this solution.
How so

>> No.3140348

>>3140340

>implying our war on "terrorism" isn't our solution

>> No.3140358

>>3140345
By stopping the mentality where your question arises! It is not like they discovered a magic formula which can be applied anywhere anytime.

But ok, I guess I could say it comprises two steps: 1- finding out how the human mind and body "work" as a whole 2- giving a (lasting) way to manage it. There can be as many ways as groups of people for each step, but it is never something one does intentionally and it takes a long time.

>> No.3140367

Define "existential crisis" in a way that implies that Siddhartha Gautama didn't have one.

>> No.3140413

>>3140358

Their solution is to conceptual problems is:

1. Ignore your thoughts
2. Stop asking questions

Their solution to existentialism / suicide is:

1. Assume you will be reborn
2. Ignore your thoughts, stop thinking


It's hardly satisfactory for deep thinkers, it's great for farmers and business men I suppose

>> No.3140505
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3140505

>>3140413
sure.

>> No.3140596

>>3140258
>soccer moms
No, that is The Secret. The West's poor attempt at the East's philosophy.
>niggerplebs.
>Muh Jesus. Muh Socrates

>> No.3140609

>>3140367
I think OP means nowadays. And precisely one could say the don't because people like Gautama made something about it and passed the knowledge to future generations.

>> No.3140621

Here's the typical ignorant, racist idiots:
>>3140004
>>3140022
>>3140209
>>3140317

>> No.3140639

Because most of them are poor. When you have too many luxuries you get spoiled and every single misstep turns into a big deal and you turn into a mental baby.

When you're poor you realize what does matter, make due with what you have, and learn to grow the fuck up and deal with shit. When something bad happens you go "alright, I've seen this before, just work through it and get shit done" instead of "bawwww i lost my fucking iPad now all the people at Starbucks will laugh at me! a bloo bloo bloo!"

When you've got a lot of luxuries you have two options.

1. Focus a LOT on character building and looking for fulfillment (not just happiness).

2. Continue partaking in trivial pleasures and just keep drowning yourself in them and finding a new one once it grows old.

The second one can't hold out forever and you'll inevitably have an existential crisis at some point. After awhile you'll have fucked, eaten, tasted, and experienced about as many different pleasures (or pain) as you really will/can in life. At that point when there's nothing more and it all comes back you'll get mentally dicked.

Or you'll just turn self destructive seeking out new novelties, or realize you fucked up and off yourself.

>> No.3140695

>>3140639
>Hong Kong
>Japan
>South Korea
>Singapore
>etc.
>poor

>> No.3140711

>>3140004
Sounds wonderful.

>> No.3140710

>>3140695

The vast majority of the populations are poor. And the ones with more money tend to get drunk all the time anyway.

>> No.3140725

>>3140710
I'm pretty sure that's false, my friend.

>> No.3140730

>>3139938
Because they are like worker ants with no independent thought or activity allowed. Plus, all of their religions and philosophies are just as stupid and wrong as abrahamic faggotry.

Western philosophy > Eastern philosophy

>> No.3140924

>>3139938
>buddhism
>not basically how2deal w/ existential crisis

>> No.3140935

ITT we assume stupid shit about other cultures we don't actually know anything about

>> No.3141004

>Thinking Buddhism is free of conceptions

What about the concept of the circle of life within Buddhism which have a version of heaven and hell? What about the conceptualized "beyond" into which enlightened beings leave never to come back? How bout all the enumerable Buddha's which are really just one Buddha but are all enlightened though how are they enlightened beings and not in the beyond but for us to call upon and purge us of our poisons with their paradoxical dialecticsdghdhgdhfhhjdgfgdf?

An existential crisis is like a shit. Everyone has to have one periodically. Whenever you feel like thinking that you are the only one in existence and everyone else is a lie or that everything is a lie and you are a lie. Consider that these postulates are all rational in their existence and therefore, a waste of time. When you find a postulate which is irrational in it's existence, you will attain unexplainable things which do not concern anyone who is tackling the rational. They will be unexplainable and will probably not end up with you in the first place.

>> No.3141018
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3141018

>>3140621
Here's the typical faggot who can't take a joke

>> No.3141070

>>3140924
this

That's what it's about, just like any other religion.

Fucking pop orientalist bullshit.

>> No.3141143

>>3141070

eh, yeah, but from what i've learned the existential crisis is cause by the decline of religion in man's life, leading to the loss of that concrete direction judeo-christian beliefs indoctrinated into the west. judeo-christianity also has a much more anthropocentric philosophy behind it, and much of western thought places man as higher than the rest of nature, as an actor instead of something acted upon.

eastern religion, on the other hand (taosim, hindusim, buddhism) tends more to see the individual as a part of the whole, and as such the individual is much less important. i'd say this is one of the big reasons why, even if religion is taken out of the picture, the eastern ex-religious man finds a lack of individual meaning less tolerable.

while a lot of old greco-roman philosophies also did this (stoicism, scepticism, pyrrhonism), the rise of the christian empire did a very good job in replacing them.

>> No.3141164

>>3141004
>What about the concept of the circle of life within Buddhism which have a version of heaven and hell? What about the conceptualized "beyond" into which enlightened beings leave never to come back?

The Buddha never believed in the existence of Gods or an afterlife, but he used it as a metaphor for states or emotions. In tibetan monasteries they would paint both demons and angels because it represented the negative emotions and desires as well as the positive ones.

Enlightenment is not an actual place, and never, did the Buddha imply, exist. It's specifically a mental state free from the hapless cycle of desire, aversion, hate, like, and other human characteristics.

The Buddha's existential crisis is one which was entirely based on recognizing and accepting the immediate here and now, and not some higher order mysticism that has historically been stirred in.

>> No.3141171 [DELETED] 

>>3140621
Someone not being politically correct? On 4chan?!

>> No.3141175

>>3141070
Buddhism as a religion is widely rejected by modern buddhists. Buddhism as a way of life and a guide for wisdom is widely accepted by modern cognitive science and many secularists.

It's why mindfulness meditation still remains widely studied and not praying.

>> No.3141262

Because nobody has.
This whole garbage about "existential crisis" is mental masturbation, irrelevant to most people.

>> No.3141267

>>3141164
>>3141175

You redditors are annoying.

>> No.3141451

>>3141267
>wahh why do people have to correct me

>> No.3141475

>>3141175

>Buddhism as a religion is widely rejected by modern western 2deep4u bourgeoisie who are taken with pop-culture icons such as alan watts and sam harris and have never once in their goddamn lives picked up a sutra or scripture.

fixed that for you.

>> No.3141481

>has never watched a Japanese film before

>> No.3141486 [DELETED] 

>>3141267
This. There is nothing more obnoxious that white middle class redditor atheists who have a hard-on for buddhism.

>> No.3141493
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3141493

>>3141164
>The Buddha never believed in the existence of Gods or an afterlife

SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU GOD DAMN PHONY, you don't know SHIT

>> No.3141535

>>3141164
>In tibetan monasteries they would paint both demons and angels because it represented the negative emotions and desires as well as the positive ones.

There was no such thing as negative and positive. For example, Mahakala is a Buddha of wrathful compassion, two seemingly different things paired together. He wears human skulls, sits on a throne of crushed bodies, enveloped by fire. You come to him and he extracts your flesh from you, eats it and spits it back out, free of it's poison. He is neither good nor evil. He is enlightened.

>>3141175

>Buddhism as a religion is widely rejected by modern Buddhists

There are many different schools of Buddhism. You can't just reject one whole Buddhism.

>Buddhism as a way of life and a guide for wisdom is widely accepted

What? Like, Tantric Buddhism? Where things like copulation are encouraged until desire is satiated? That type of teachings was made by Buddha because a prince didn't want enlightenment yet admired Buddhist teachings so a whole section was created for those who do not want to achieve enlightenment and leave the realms, to be cow herders and teachers, wealthy and fat. There are wealthy Buddha's within Buddhism which most people don't know about.

The way people can know when someone is bullshit on Buddhism is by referring to it as one cohesive whole movement.

>> No.3142066

>>3139938
You assume that Asians don't have an existential crisis.

What evidence do you have for this?

>> No.3142099

>>3140730
Sooooo intelligent

>> No.3142106

>>3142066
he's saying the truth. they dont. ask any asian girl, they never think about that, even in their late 20's. Any way i can convince them that life is pointless?

>> No.3142120

>>3142106
>Any way i can convince them that life is pointless?

What would be the point, you silly faggot?

>> No.3142128

>>3141175
>>3141535
I'm just going to butt in here, as far as Buddhism being or not being a religion the arguments can all equally to Taoism (or nearly, feel free to provide me with some counterexamples). If we say "Buddhist" we don't necessarily mean something that has a religious dimension, that's what I guess people are trying to get at when saying Buddhism isn't a religion.

>> No.3142129

>>3142120
huehuehue
but srsly, jsut to fuck around